lonelamplighter's reviews
4 reviews

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Piranesi is dang close to my perfect novel: a fascinating little puzzle box wrapped up in strong characterization, a hauntingly atmospheric surrealist setting, and a phenomenally paced mystery. An extremely good read, and the perfect length... not too long or short!

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Klara and the Sun is a difficult book to read, both because of the heartwrenching subject matter (chronic illness, looming death, etc) and because of the narrator. Ishiguro has managed to create a narrator that is both reliable and incomprehensible--Klara herself is extraordinarily observant, but lacks the human perspective that we have (and can see things that we cannot). Because of the gap between our understanding of the world and hers, it is often difficult to parse exactly what is going on via her descriptions, but I never felt like I was utterly lost in the narrative.

This is definitely a book that, if possible, you should read in tandem with other people so that you can discuss it. If you're reading it on your own, as I did, I would recommend that you simply roll with the punches. Don't get too stuck on particular details or sentences... drift through the narrative and let it wash over you. It all comes together, in the end. Trust the process.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Terminal illness

Moderate: Grief, Medical content, and Medical trauma

The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi

funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A beautiful, moving body of feathery prose crammed into a slim and poignant volume. A meditation on grief, an exploration of family, and a reflection on the nature of poetry, Grief is the Thing with Feathers is all at once hopeful and terrible, full of light and heavyhearted, and deeply, deeply quiet in all the right places.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Cancer, Alcoholism, and Alcohol